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LYS Podcast Episode 3
Episode three begins with an update from Colin Orry, who has been looking deeper into Dr. Weylen Taylor's past. Colin is able to provide Amanda and Mitch with a fair amount of research on Dr. Taylor's interests and they dive straight into several links and documents. Amanda also gets a voicemail from a mysterious woman using the name Lizzie Max, who shares some interesting information about her time as a patient/subject of Dr. Weylen Taylor. Amanda and Mitch also look into the Leap Year Society symbol after finding it twice in seemingly unrelated situations: in a photograph of Ettore Majorana, where the symbol is displayed on his suitcase, and again on a poster taped to a pole in San Francisco. Below the symbol on the poster, a string of numbers can be seen and Mitch gets the itch to figure out what they mean. Amanda and Mitch manage to get their hands on some unnerving medical documentation and audio files when an anonymous source sends it in to the show. They play the first recording and we are introduced to "Patient 80". -'Intro music-' AMANDA MORRISON’S NARRATION/VOICE OVER (AM V/O): Last episode, we looked into the mysterious disappearance and resurfacing of the Italian scientist Ettore Majorana. And an old friend from high school and brand new research team member Colin Orry uncovered some information on both Ettore Majorana and another research scientist who’d also disappeared under mysterious circumstances. A man named Weylen Taylor. We’re going to get into Weylen Taylor and his mysterious disappearance, right after we take care of a bit of housekeeping from our last episode. My friend and producer, Mitch, and I have followed the clues she dug up that led us to a very distinct small poster on a pole in Downtown San Francisco. It was a familiar symbol, a circle with the letters “L Y S” with a couple of extra lines on the Y, almost like callipers. Could those letters refer to anything other than the Leap Year Society? We didn’t believe it was likely. In a completely separate line of investigation, a photograph, allegedly of Ettore Majorana, taken sometime between 1955 and 1959, most likely somewhere in Venezuela, revealed the exact same symbol. It was prominently featured on the front of Majorana’s suitcase. You’re listening to the Leap Year Society. I’m Amanda Morrison. Stay with us. '-End of Intro- ' AM V/O: What we have are two identical symbols. One, from a photograph of a missing scientist taken decades ago somewhere in South America, and another taken just last week of a small poster on a pole in Downtown San Francisco. I sat down with my friend, and producer, Mitch, to figure out next steps. AM: What do we know? MITCH SORENSEN (MS): Well, we know that Ettore Majorana had the Leap Year Society symbol on his suitcase. And that he’d been gifted some research equipment by Millicent Harper, the first name on the list of attendees at that February 29th meeting in England in 1888. AM: The woman who murdered her secret society husband, Carson Harper? MS: In self-defense! AM: And we have the poster we found with the LYS symbol on that pole. MS: Yes, and the numbers at the bottom of the poster. AM: Right! The numbers! AM V/O: We’re going to take a closer look at those numbers, but first, we need to go back to the missing research scientist. Not Ettore Majorana, but rather Weylen Taylor. '-cut to Amanda’s phone call with Colin-' COLIN ORRY (CO) (over the phone): Hey Amanda! AM: Hi! Colin! What’s going on? CO: Oh, you know, just digging into myth and conspiracy! AM: You working on your show? CO: No, I’m working on yours. AM: Right. CO: Are you ready to talk about Weylen Taylor? AM: Ready! CO: So, like I mentioned last time, Weylen Taylor is, or was, a disciple of sorts of Ettore Majorana. He believed that it was possible to find physical evidence for more “ethereal” phenomenon. AM: Right, so I’m looking at the PDF document you sent over. This first article states Weylen Taylor believed that Ettore Majorana was looking into proving the existence of the soul, but that he may have found evidence of something else. CO: Right, another level or layer of consciousness. AM: And this article goes on to say that Taylor has been working on some way of communicating with, or accessing this other level of human consciousness for decades. CO: Right. AM: Ok, but a lot of this stuff you sent over is kind of- CO: Crazy? AM: A bit. Possession, exorcisms gone wrong, it looks like he was WAY into this stuff. CO: Oh, he was! It was his life-long obsession. AM: What can you tell me about the circumstances surrounding his disappearance? CO: Only that it was weird; a kind of locked room mystery. In late 2011, Weylen Taylor went missing from his San Francisco home in the middle of the night. AM: Doesn’t sound like a locked room situation… CO: It does, once you learn something about Weylen Taylor. You see, he was obsessed with exterior surveillance. Every inch of his property was covered by at least one camera, usually more. AM: And there was no footage of anything happening? CO: Nada. Exactly. AM: Do we know anything else about his disappearance? CO: Not really, but the stuff he was working on right before he went missing is very interesting. AM: What kind of stuff was he into? CO: Taylor had become obsessed with states of consciousness and to that end; he was looking into all kinds of weird stuff. AM: Tell me. CO: I sent you some links. ' '''AM V/O: '''Colin did send some stuff over. There was a lot of research on sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis is a condition that involves the subject experiencing awareness, but an inability to move. They are essentially frozen in place. Sleep paralysis is normally described as an immensely terrifying ordeal by those who experience it and most people believe that sleep paralysis is the phenomenon that people experience who end up reporting alien abductions or demonic visitations. Sufferers of this affliction describe hearing terrifying sounds; a deep humming or a hissing sound, electric zapping feelings and buzzing. Other sounds like whispers and voices are also reported. Fear and panic are common and a large number of sleep paralysis sufferers claim that they feel like they’re not alone, like somebody is there with them, either in their bedroom or, in certain cases, inside their body. Weylen Taylor had been looking into something else as well; something called ‘Sleeping Beauty Syndrome’. Sleeping Beauty Syndrome, or Kleine-Levin Syndrome (KLS), is a very rare sleep disorder, characterized by hypersomnia, and extreme changes in mood or personality or both. Because KLS is so rare, it’s a study that has been somewhat limited. There is no known cure and very little evidence to support treatment by prescription drugs. Sufferers of this condition normally experience episodes sporadically over months, sometimes over decades. Dr. Taylor’s notes reference patients he believed have experienced Sleeping Beauty Syndrome throughout history. From a young man in 1805, another in 1862 and at least 5 others with related symptoms described by a German neurologist in 1925. But Dr. Taylor’s research into sleep paralysis and Sleeping Beauty Syndrome appear to be tied to a bigger theory. Something Taylor had been working on for over a decade. Taylor believed he had discovered something new, something he referred to as ‘Walking Hypnagogia’. Hypnagogia is also referred to as ‘hypnagogic hallucinations’. It is a term used to describe the movement from waking to a state of sleep, of consciousness to unconsciousness. It’s often described as the threshold between waking and sleep. There are a number of phenomena which occur in this state. Lucid dreaming, hallucinations and sleep paralysis are the most common phenomena experienced, but these are all experienced while entering this state, or once the patient crosses the threshold from consciousness to un or subconsciousness. What if there was another version of the hypnagogic state? This brings us to Weylen Taylor’s strangest and most controversial theory, something he refers to as ‘Walking Hypnagogia’. Taylor’s other proposed version of hypnagogia, his walking hypnagogia, was something he’d been looking into for at least five years, perhaps longer. Here, Mitch and I go through all the information we’ve received from Colin. '-Cut to Amanda and Mitch rifling through papers-''' AM: What is this stuff? MS: Possessions. AM: All of them? MS: Yeah. ' AM V/O': Mitch handed me a pile of documents from a file folder. We’d printed out all of the links and documents Colin had sent over related to Weylen Taylor. MS: Taylor was in Holland looking into a case of possession by what the local clergy referred to as a water demon. And he was in India looking into the case of a young man who fell to his death in some kind of trance. And here in Toronto, a young woman disappeared for a week under very mysterious circumstances. Her mother had her exorcised by a local clergyman. AM: There are another two women in Japan who experienced something similar. MS: It’s pretty out there! AM: And, as I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, all of these share something in common. MS: I actually haven’t seen a patter. But what are you seeing? AM: None of them are bedridden. MS: Ok…And? AM: Well, you know, the classic exorcism scene, young woman or man, normally a woman for some reason, might have to do another podcast about that someday… MS: Ha-ha, you’re on! AM: Normally they’re strapped to the bed. The bed flies up into the air, a couple of dudes chant Latin, hurl corny English phrases at the poor wretch, holy water, purple scarves, the whole deal. MS: Right! But these people are all out and about! AM: They’re walking! MS: WALKING HYPNAGOGIA!!!! AM: It makes sense! AM V/O: It kind of made sense. In the interest of full disclosure, there was another reason to include my theory about Dr. Taylor’s strange possession cases and his theory of walking hypnagogia. That reason was one of our listeners. A woman calling herself Lizzie Max, I’m guessing not her real name, called in after our last episode. And, by the way, if you have any theories or information, anything related to our investigations into the Leap Year Society, or anything else related to what we are talking about on this podcast, please contact us on our website at lyspodcast.com. Here’s the original message from Lizzie Max: LIZZIE MAX (LM): This is a message for Amanda Morrison. My name is…Lizzie Max. I’m calling because you’re looking into those people, uh, the people Dr. Weylen Taylor was talking to; the people with the “passengers.” Anyways, if you’d like to hear what I have to say, you can give me a call at –BEEEEEEP-. If not, have a nice day. AM V/O: We received that message last week. Of course I called Lizzie Max back. She agreed to speak with me on the phone. She did admit ‘Lizzie Max’ wasn’t her legal name, but she told me that we didn’t have to disguise her voice. ' -Phone Call-' AM: Hello Lizzie? How are you? LM: I’m good, you? AM:I’m good! Good, so is it ok if I ask you where you are calling from? You don’t have to tell me of course. LM: Uh, it’s some place that’s rainy right now…which sucks. AM: I grew up in San Francisco, so I do know rain! So listen, do you mind if we just dive right in? LM: Cool with me. AM: Ok, great! So, what can you tell us about Weylen Taylor? LM: Well, I’m probably going to have to come clean at some point. AM: What do you mean? LM: I mean…I was kind of a patient of Dr. Taylor’s. AM V/O: We’ll get right back to Lizzie Max and find out more about her relationship to Dr. Taylor, but now, as promised, Mitch and I look into those mysterious numbers at the bottom of the poster featuring the symbol and the letters ‘LYS’. AM: Maybe describe the poster? MS: Ok, so it’s square, off-white-ish, purposefully designed with a kind of patina. It looks like Da Vinci Code-ish old, and in the middle there’s the stencil graphic symbol with ‘LYS’ on it. AM: Directly below the symbol, running along the bottom, just outside the thin, black line that runs along the border, are 44 small numbers. MS: You want me to read the numbers? AM: Do it. MS: It said 1021 5715 4143 1501 4516 3164 1451 6240 1041 4514 5160. AM: Any idea what the hell we might be looking at? MS: I’m so into this kind of stuff!' ' AM V/O: While Mitch and I try and puzzle out whatever is going on with those numbers, we’re going back to where I left you earlier. Back to my discussion with Lizzie Max. '-Phone call-' AM: You’re telling me that you were actually a patient of Dr. Weylen Taylor? LM: I used to be. AM: You “used to be” because he’s disappeared or you used to be for other reasons? LM: Other reasons. Um, well one other reason, basically. AM: What’s that? LM: The nature of the treatments. AM: Your treatment? LM: Not so much mine, it was mainly the others. AM: What kind of treatment did he employ? LM: It was a little different for each of us. AM: Depending on what factors? LM: Normally, the severity of our conditions. AM: How would you describe your treatment? LM: Well, first off I suppose I should describe my condition. AM: Certainly, if you’re comfortable talking about it. LM: About two years ago, I experienced significant memory loss. I went to bed in my apartment after brushing my teeth, read part of a book like I did every night, and then I woke up in Marrakesh two months later. AM: In Morocco. LM: Yeah… AM: What were you doing there? LM: I have no idea. I called my mom and she started balling her eyes out and she said she was sure I’d been murdered. AM: And you don’t remember anything? LM: Nothing. AM: What about your passport, border agents? LM: Nothing at all. I got a temporary passport issued and came home. AM: And how did you get introduced to Dr. Weylen Taylor? LM: My mother found him online. AM: And did Dr. Taylor believe you suffered from what he called “walking hypnagogia”? LM: Maybe? I don’t know, I’ve never heard that term before. AM: How did your mother find him? LM: He’d done some work with other special kids before. AM: What do you mean “special”? LM: I mean…I’m…let’s just say my life wasn’t standard. I kind of graduated from Yale at fourteen. AM: Wow! LM: Yeah. Wow. Not a great experience, actually. AM: I can’t imagine going through everything a fourteen year old goes through in that environment. LM: I toughed it out. AM: Good for you! LM: Dr. Taylor was somebody my mother heard about back then. He was working with “young people of significant interest”, he called them. Or “us”, I suppose. AM: He was looking into memory loss. LM: It was one of the things on his list. He needed you to have experienced at least two. AM: What was your other ‘thing’? LM: Special abilities at an early age, prodigy stuff, and uh, significant loss of time and/or memory. AM: What were some of the other factors? Do you remember? LM: Um, the feeling of leaving your body was one. Uh, I think maybe sleeping all day, pressure in your chest, and there was something else, um…oh yeah, photographic memory. AM: It sounds like he was looking for ‘real life X-Men’ or something. LM: Yeah, well, I don’t imagine real superheroes would put up with the stuff he put us through. He called them his “treatments”. AM: What kind of treatments? LM: Uh…well…sleep deprivation, forced possession, hypnosis. AM: Forced possession? LM: It was awful. He created demonic possession. I saw part of that treatment once. I’ll never forget those sounds or the expression on that man’s face. It was awful. AM: Do you remember the man’s name? LM: We didn’t use our real names. We were numbers. That man was patient 70 or 80 I think. AM V/O: Lizzie Max had an appointment and had to jump off that call. We’ve been trying to get in touch again, but so far she hasn’t returned our calls. In the meantime, Mitch and I did some deep digging into Weylen Taylor and his so called “treatments”. It took a lot of looking, but we eventually found something. AM: I think this might be illegal. MS: Yeah. I mean, it feels more than a little like a cult. AM: Why would parents and guardians sign off on this stuff? MS: I guess it must have been a last resort for some of them. AM: I suppose so.' ' AM V/O: Mitch and I were looking at a list of patients and descriptions of treatments that we received from an anonymous source connected to a now-defunct online forum about controversial psychiatric treatments in California and Oregon. We have three pages, each of them a kind of ‘post-treatment’ journal. It looked to be exit interviews of some kind and all of the reports appeared to be written by the attending doctor. A ‘Doctor W. Taylor’. I’ve asked Mitch to read one of those reports for us now.' ' MS: May 15th, 1997, Patient 49. The subject has not responded well to the water process or the sonic ablation therapy. Subject appears weak, is losing weight, and prone to losses of consciousness during the treatment sessions. Recommend discontinuation. Further engagement in treatment process almost certain to result in death.' ' AM V/O: The rest of the text was similar. “Almost certain to result in death”. What were they doing with these people? There was something else. A few days later, we received an email. No subject, no text, just an attachment. A zip file titled “Patient 80”. It was a series of audio files. I’m going to play the first one of those audio files for you now. The first voice on the recording belongs to Dr. Weylen Taylor. We believe the second man on the recording is Patient 80. '-Recording-' WEYLEN TAYLOR (WT): So, how are you feeling this morning? Please, take your time. PATIENT 80: (in a monotone voice) I’m fine. Thank you for asking. WT: Are you still experiencing that feeling of dread, oh, what did you call it, emptiness? 80: No. WT: Did something happen to...change your perspective? 80: (now with sinister intonation) Oh, yes. WT: Please explain in your own words how, or if something changed? 80: In my own words. WT: Yes. 80: Interesting phrase, “in my own words”. WT: What do you mean? 80: Come on Doctor, you know exactly what I mean. Unusual sounds can be heard in the background. -'END OF EPISODE-' -- NOTES * Who is passing the information across - for example the recordings of Patient 80? * The poster is viewable in the notes section of the LYS Podcast website